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What if there was a hearing aid that understood your listening intentions?

<div class="page" title="Page 1"> <div class="section"> <div class="layoutArea"> <div class="column">Hearing conversations in noisy environments can be especially hard for people with impaired hearing. Unfortunately, traditional hearing aids adopt a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to processing sounds, regardless of the listening needs of individual users. This may make listening and engaging with others more difficult. Users may also experience a lack of sound clarity and be reluctant to engage in conversations with others.</div> <div class="column"> </div> <div class="column">Hearing aid manufacturer <a href="https://www.oticon.co.nz/hearing-aid-users" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oticon</a> is taking the next important step on the journey to solve the No.1 challenge for people with hearing loss – hearing speech in noise2. With new groundbreaking 4D Sensor technology, <a href="https://www.oticon.co.nz/hearing-aid-users/hearing-aids/products/intent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oticon Intent</a> is capable of understanding the user’s listening intentions by recognising what they want and need to listen to, in order to deliver truly personalised support.</div> <div class="column"> </div> <div class="column">The Brain And Sound</div> <div class="column"> </div> <div class="column">Our ears gather the sounds around us, but the true hero in sound processing is the brain, as it is constantly working to make sense of sound. Oticon uses their BrainHearingTM philosophy to develop technology that provides the brain with access to the full sound environment.</div> <div class="column"> </div> <div class="column">The latest <a style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;" href="https://www.oticon.co.nz/hearing-aid-users/hearing-loss/understand-hearing-loss/how-hearing-works" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BrainHearingTM</a> insights reveal that people’s communication behaviour reflects their listening needs and intentions at a given moment via head and body movements. In conversation, users tend to keep their heads still to engage with a single person or move their heads in a group conversation to engage with different people. When struggling to hear what someone is saying, users are likely to lean in to listen.</div> <div class="column"> </div> <div class="column">The technology in Oticon Intent understands and adapts to the user through sensors that monitor head and body movements, conversation activity and the acoustic environment. Oticon Intent helps users move beyond just hearing and listening, helping them to communicate and fully engage in life.</div> <div class="column"> </div> <div class="column">Ease Of Communication</div> <div class="column"> </div> <div class="column">In challenging, noisy environments, Oticon Intent makes it possible to: <div class="page" title="Page 1"> <div class="section"> <div class="layoutArea"> <div class="column"> <ul> <li>Move through a crowd with seamless awareness, while orienting to the surrounding sounds.</li> <li>Begin chatting with a group of people, thanks to heightened access to voices and balanced background sounds so they are not intrusive, while still accessible.</li> <li>Start an intimate conversation with one person, easily hearing the speaker’s voice amid the noise all around.</li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-50989" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2024/03/Oticon_Intent_HA_In_Hand_Hero3_KC_1321_Expires_On_2_8_2029_1280.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /> Engage More In Life “If you have a hearing loss, you can actually protect your brain from cognitive decline by using active hearing aids which enable you to connect with others and let you engage in life to the fullest,” says Thomas Behrens, Vice President of Audiology at Oticon. “You can also enjoy future-proof, next- generation connectivity technology, crafted into the smallest form factor we have designed to date within this category.” Open Up The Digital World Offering easy connection to compatible smart devices through Bluetooth® Low Energy technology, Oticon Intent also enables users to engage in the digital world like never before. It allows a detailed, high-quality sound experience for hands-free calls and delivers direct streaming of music, audio book and much more3. With up to 20 hours of battery life, users will never have to worry about running out of battery. When they need a recharge, they’d simply drop the hearing aids into the charger for just 30 minutes for up to 8 hours of battery life4. Your hearing matters. Take a step towards better hearing by contacting your nearest <a href="https://www.oticon.co.nz/hearing-aid-users/find-audiologist" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hearing care professional</a>. To explore this revolutionary hearing aid that helps users to engage in life like never before, visit <a href="https://www.oticon.co.nz/oticon-intent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">www.oticon.co.nz/oticon-intent</a> For more information and to find your nearest hearing clinic, visit <a href="https://www.oticon.co.nz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">oticon.co.nz</a> *4D Sensor technology only available in Oticon Intent 1 & 2. [2.] Jorgensen, L., & Novak, M. (2020). Factors Influencing Hearing Aid Adoption. Seminars in hearing, 41(1), 6–20. [3.] Hands-free communication is available on select devices. See which hearing aids and devices are compatible here: oticon.co.nz/compatibility. [4.] Expected use time for rechargeable battery depends on use pattern, active feature set, hearing loss, sound environment, battery age and use of wireless accessories. Images: Supplied. This is a sponsored article produced in partnership with Oticon.

Hearing

Censorship or sensible: is it bad to listen to Fat Bottomed Girls with your kids?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liz-giuffre-105499">Liz Giuffre</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> International music press has reported this week that Queen’s song Fat Bottomed Girls <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/queen-fat-bottomed-girls-greatest-hits-1235396348/">has not been included</a> in a greatest hits compilation aimed at children. While there was no formal justification given, presumably lyrics “fat bottomed” and “big fat fatty” were the problem, and even the very singable hook, “Oh, won’t you take me home tonight”. Predictably, The Daily Mail and similar outlets used it as an excuse to bemoan cancel culture, political correctness and the like, with the headline “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12424449/We-woke-Classic-Queen-song-Fat-Bottomed-Girls-mysteriously-dropped-groups-new-Greatest-Hits-collection.html">We Will Woke You</a>” quickly out of the gate. Joke headlines aside, should children be exposed to music with questionable themes or lyrics? The answer is not a hard yes or no. My colleague Shelley Brunt and I studied a range of factors and practices relating to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Popular-Music-and-Parenting/Brunt-Giuffre/p/book/9780367367138">Popular Music and Parenting</a>, and we found that more important than individual songs or concerts is the support children are given when they’re listening or participating. A parent or caregiver should always be part of a conversation and some sort of relationship when engaging with music. This can involve practical things like making sure developing ears aren’t exposed to too harsh a volume or that they know how to find a trusted adult at a concert. But this also extends to the basics of media and cultural literacy, like what images and stories are being presented in popular music, and how we want to consider those in our own lives. In the same way you’d hope someone would talk to a child to remind them that superheroes can’t actually fly (and subsequently if you’re dressed as a superhero for book week don’t go leaping off tall buildings!), popular music of all types needs to be contextualised. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VMnjF1O4eH0?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>Should we censor, or change, the way popular music is presented for kids?</h2> There is certainly a long tradition of amending popular songs to make them child or family friendly. On television, this has happened as long as the medium has been around, with some lyrics and dance moves toned down to appease concerned parents and tastemakers about the potential evils of pop. Famously, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oim51kUg748">Elvis Presley serenaded a literal Hound Dog</a> rather than the metaphorical villain of his 1950s hit. In Australia, the local TV version of <a href="https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/music-on-film-and-tv/bandstand-australia/">Bandstand</a> from the 1970s featured local artists singing clean versions of international pop songs while <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guembJBOOyI">wearing modest hems and neck lines</a>. This continued with actual children also re-performing pop music, from the Mickey Mouse Club versions of songs from the US to our own wonderful star factory that was <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-my-loving-young-talent-time-still-glows-50-years-since-first-airing-on-australian-tv-159533">Young Talent Time</a>. The tradition continues today with family-friendly, popular music-based programming like The Voice and The Masked Singer. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oim51kUg748?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> In America, there is a huge industry for children’s versions of pop music via the Kidz Bop franchise. Its formula of child performers covering current hits has been wildly successful for over 20 years. Some perhaps obvious substitutions are made – the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkctByJbtNY">cover of Lizzo’s About Damn Time</a> is now “About That Time”, with the opening lyric changed to “Kidz Bop O’Clock” rather than “Bad Bitch O’Clock”. In some other Kidz Bop songs, though, <a href="https://pudding.cool/2020/04/kidz-bop/">references to violence and drugs have been left in</a>. Other longer-standing children’s franchises have also made amendments to pop lyrics, but arguably with a bit more creativity and fun. The Muppets’ cover of Bohemian Rhapsody, replacing the original murder with a rant from Animal, is divine. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tgbNymZ7vqY?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>Should music ever just be for kids?</h2> Context is key when deciding what is for children or for adults. And hopefully we’re always listening (in some way) together. Caregivers should be able to make an informed decision about whether a particular song is appropriate for their child, however they consider that in terms of context. By the same token, the resurgence of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/05/how-the-wiggles-took-over-the-world-and-got-the-cool-kids-on-side-too">millennial love</a> for The Wiggles has shown us no one should be considered “too old” for Hot Potato or Fruit Salad. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/quHus3DwN4Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> When considering potential harm for younger listeners, factors like <a href="https://kidsafeqld.com.au/risks-noise-exposure-baby/">volume and tone</a> can be more dangerous than whether or not there’s a questionable lyric. Let’s remember, too, lots of “nursery rhymes” aimed at children are also quite violent if you listen to their words closely. French writer Jacques José Attali <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Noise/OHe7AAAAIAAJ?hl=en">famously argued</a> the relationship between music, noise and harm is politics and power – even your most beloved song can become just noise if played too loudly or somewhere where you shouldn’t be hearing it. As an academic, parent and fat-bottomed girl myself, my advice is to keep having conversations with the children in your life about what you and they are listening to. Just like reminding your little superhero to only pretend to fly rather than to actually jump – when we sing along to Queen, we remember that using a word like “fat” and even “girl” isn’t how everyone likes to be treated these days.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212093/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liz-giuffre-105499">Liz Giuffre</a>, Senior Lecturer in Communication, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/censorship-or-sensible-is-it-bad-to-listen-to-fat-bottomed-girls-with-your-kids-212093">original article</a>.

Music

How listening to music could help you beat insomnia

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/victoria-williamson-277929">Victoria Williamson</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sheffield-1147">University of Sheffield</a> In our hectic world, a good night’s sleep is worth its weight in gold when it comes to improving <a href="http://www.apa.org/topics/sleep/why.aspx">physical and mental well-being</a>. Much more than a basic method of energy conservation, sleep is a state during which muscle and bone are generated and repaired, and memories and learning systems are updated. Sleep also allows the body and brain to clear out the toxic byproducts of the day’s waking activity that might otherwise build up and cause harm. <a href="http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/healthy/matters/benefits-of-sleep/why-do-we-sleep">In short, good sleep is a cornerstone of human health</a>. Sadly, not all of us are blessed with the bounty of a good night’s slumber after a long and often tiring day. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1978319/">Around 30% of adults</a> experience chronic insomnia at some point in their life – where sleep is disrupted for more than a month. Estimates are even higher in older populations and those who experience regular stress. <a href="http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/features/10-results-sleep-loss#1">Insomnia can be devastating</a>, and has been linked to cognitive deficiencies – such as memory lapses, psychological problems including mood and anxiety disorders, and long-term health concerns including obesity and dementia. The most severe cases of chronic insomnia can even increase <a href="http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/290065.php">the risk of mortality</a>. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TTDDK6goHVg?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> The cost of insomnia goes well beyond just health. According to the National Sleep Foundation, insomniacs are two to four times more likely to have an accident – with over <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/features/dsdrowsydriving/">72,000 traffic accidents a year</a> in the US alone linked to sleep deprivation. Insomnia also costs US companies an <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/12152327/ns/health-sleep/t/chronic-sleep-problems-costing-us-billions/">estimated $150 billion</a> in absenteeism and reduced productivity, every year. Given our need for regular and deep sleep, it is no surprise then that people with insomnia often reach for the medicine cabinet. Pharmacies in the UK regularly dispense more than <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/may/11/nhs-spending-sleeping-pills-50m">15.3m prescriptions for sleep aids</a>. But this is not the safest route to a good night’s slumber, as the use of over the counter and prescription sleep aids can lead to harmful side effects, dependency and withdrawal. <h2>Music for sleep?</h2> Research has shown that listening to “self-selected” music – music of your choice – can actually shorten stage two sleep cycles. This means people reach restful <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-listening-to-music-help-you-fall-asleep-49864">REM sleep – the restorative part of our sleep – more quickly</a>. In the study, students who listened to 45 minutes of <a href="http://lib.semmelweis.hu/sepub/pdf/2008/a18426457">music before bedtime</a> for three weeks saw a cumulative positive effect on multiple measures of sleep efficiency with similar effects reported in older citizens in Singapore. Following all this evidence, the NHS now recommends “<a href="http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Insomnia/Pages/Prevention.aspx">listening to soft music</a>” before bedtime as a method to prevent insomnia. With all this in mind, <a href="http://musicwellbeing.group.shef.ac.uk/">our research unit</a>, along with colleagues from the Sleep and Cognition Laboratory at the University of Lincoln and Goldsmiths, University of London, has embarked on a new music sleep project, to find out what people listen to when they are nodding off – and why people believe music helps their sleep. <a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16722236/Final%20sleep%20infographic.pdf">The first phase of our music sleep survey </a> has been completed by 651 people, who have told us a great deal about the music that helps them to sleep. We discovered the top rated composer of sleep music in our sample is Johann Sebastian Bach. He was followed by Ed Sheeran, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Brian Eno, and Coldplay. Aside from those few top rated artists, there was an enormous variety of individual choices – with 14 different genres and 545 different artists named. And it is this data which will give us the basis to examine the features of effective sleep music. Using computer programs we will be able to pin down the consistent musical features that support sleep among these many diverse musical sounds. <h2>Face the music</h2> We also found out a lot about the reasons why people are turning to music in the first place. And they are varied. In our <a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16722236/Final%20sleep%20infographic.pdf">research</a>, people highlighted the importance of music for blocking disruptive external (such as traffic) and internal (like tinnitus) sounds, for filling uncomfortable silences, and providing a sense of companionship and security. This suggests that a one size fits all approach to music for sleep is unlikely to suit all insomniacs, because people are tuning into so many different types of music for so many different reasons. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTDDK6goHVg&feature=youtu.be">The next step for our research</a> will be to expand <a href="http://musicpsychology.co.uk/sleep/">our survey</a> to cover as many populations and cultures as possible. We will then test the music that people report to be consistently effective at different stages of sleep using advanced sleep recording techniques. Our aim is to develop personalised music selection technology, combined with advice on music sleep strategies, as a complete package for people who need to restore their sleep to normal for the sake of their health, quality of life and well-being. Until then, the best advice we can offer when choosing music to put you to sleep is to trust your own musical choices over generic “sleep” playlists. You know best what you are looking for in a bedtime track – based on what you like and what you need from the music at the time. And in the near future we will be armed with the necessary evidence that will allow us to move from this “instinctive approach” to a more informed and optimised application of music as an effective aid in the battle against insomnia.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61622/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/victoria-williamson-277929">Victoria Williamson</a>, Lecturer in Music , <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sheffield-1147">University of Sheffield</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-listening-to-music-could-help-you-beat-insomnia-61622">original article</a>.

Music

Don’t listen to Gwyneth Paltrow – IVs are not a shortcut to good health

Actor and businesswoman Gwyneth Paltrow <a href="https://jezebel.com/gwyneth-paltrow-iv-drip-1850227472">declared</a> “I love an IV!” recently, calling herself an “early adoptor” of intravenous infusion during a podcast. Both she and the show’s host were hooked up to drips during an interview in which they discussed bone broth, skipping meals and infrared saunas. The Goop boss has been criticised for her “beauty from the inside out” ideas, which she says are <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2023/03/18/gwyneth-paltrow-refers-to-her-long-covid-when-responding-to-bone-broth-backlash/?sh=35eacdbf14f0">helping her</a> recover from long COVID and reduce inflammation. Lots of TikTok users are <a href="https://pagesix.com/2023/03/14/gwyneth-paltrow-dragged-on-tiktok-over-wellness-tips/">not having it</a> – but IV supplements have hit the mainstream in recent years. Here’s why they are not a quick fix and can be deadly. <h2>What is IV vitamin therapy?</h2> IV vitamin therapy administers supplements directly into the bloodstream via a needle inserted into a vein. Fans of the therapy believe this route leads to higher nutrients in the body compared with oral supplements or food-based nutrients as it avoids nutrient losses through digestion and excretion. <a href="https://9now.nine.com.au/a-current-affair/australian-beauty-clinic-businesses-speak-out-following-medical-regulator-ahpra-crackdown/4fded160-8f07-48f1-afc2-58b6e09863ac">Providers of these injections</a> say they customise the formula of vitamins and minerals depending on the patient’s perceived needs. Many do this without an initial blood test, making it close to impossible to know if you have a pre-existing vitamin deficiency. A typical session in a shopfront or home visit can take 30–90 minutes and cost anywhere between A$80 to $3,000. Popular drip “cocktails” include blends of vitamin C and B complex “for energy”, B complex and zinc “for skin”, vitamin C, magnesium and amino acids “for happiness”, and a supposedly “anti-ageing” blend of glutathione. Many of these contain mostly water-soluble vitamins C and B, which are processed by the kidneys and excess nutrients excreted through urine when the body has received the amount it needs to work properly. <h2>What does the science say?</h2> IV therapy is not new and has been used in the medical profession for decades. In hospitals, it is used to <a href="https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg174">hydrate patients</a>and administer <a href="https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-2-18">essential nutrients</a> if patients have difficulty eating, drinking or absorbing them. Single nutrient deficiencies like vitamin B12 or iron are often treated with infusions under medical supervision. The “cocktails” that IV vitamin therapy clinics create and administer are not supported by scientific evidence. There have been no clinical studies to show vitamin injections of this type offer any health benefit or are necessary for good health. Very few studies have looked at their effectiveness in adults. In those that have, they are either of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC420479/">very poor scientific quality</a>, found <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19250003/">no significant differences</a> and involved only a handful of people, were <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17515022/">missing a placebo group</a>, or contained only <a href="https://altmedrev.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/v4-1-37.pdf">anecdotal evidence</a> from single cases. <h2>What’s Gwyneth on about then?</h2> Paltrow <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gwyneth-paltrow-her-wellness-protocol-for-longevity/id1539535133?i=1000603890093">recently</a> shared her enthusiasm for glutathione as her favourite IV vitamin therapy. Glutathione is heralded as the “master antioxidant” in the body and is naturally produced by our cells, working to prevent oxidative stress and tissue damage. The body’s demand for this nutrient is believed to increase as we age. Studies have reported that taking an <a href="https://rdcu.be/c8Agw">oral glutathione supplement</a> doesn’t increase <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21875351/">blood levels</a> in humans. In 2015, <a href="https://rdcu.be/c8AdX">a trial</a> reported some beneficial effects on immune function with long-term glutathione oral supplementation, but the authors said more studies were required to further understand the nature of these effects. It is important to note that no research has supported the claim IV therapy with glutathione slows down ageing or reduces oxidative damage. <h2>What could go wrong?</h2> Injecting anything straight into your bloodstream comes with some big risks, especially if those administering the drips aren’t medically trained. Medical doctors tend to avoid inserting IV lines into people unless it’s absolutely necessary (such as for medical emergencies). Air bubbles (or embolism) accidentally introduced via IV <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/186328">can be fatal</a>. Another major risk is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/hypervitaminosis">hypervitaminosis</a>, or consuming too high a dose of a vitamin. Unusually high stores of vitamins in fat tissue can, over time, cause problems like <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-019-0375-7">Alzheimer’s disease</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2657096/">cancer</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128012383994911">kidney issues</a>, muscle spasms, pain, burning and itching. And any time you have an IV line inserted, it creates a direct path into your bloodstream and bypasses your skin’s defence mechanism against bacteria. This can put you at risk of <a href="https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/full/10.12968/bjon.2017.26.14.S4">dangerous systemic infection</a>. IV therapy also puts your wallet at risk. If you are not vitamin deficient, supplements (oral or infused) may just create very expensive urine. There is no regulation of IV therapy by the Therapeutic Goods Act in Australia, so ultimately you could be paying to receive sugar water, rather than the advertised formulas for “anti-ageing”. Many advertisers quote their patients as feeling or looking better after an infusion. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) believes there is little or no accepted evidence to support such generalised claims and they are, therefore, misleading and in breach of national laws. In November last year, Ahpra <a href="https://anmj.org.au/wellness-industry-put-on-notice-over-unproven-intravenous-infusion-treatments/">warned businesses</a> about making misleading health claims in relation to infusions. It is also illegal in Australia to misrepresent yourself as a medical practitioner or nurse. <h2>Don’t believe the hype</h2> While it sounds logical that consuming more of a good thing would be good for you, research shows this is not necessarily the case. In a healthy person, nutrient digestion and absorption are carefully regulated to release them into the bloodstream from the gut and liver. Excessive amounts of nutrients entering the bloodstream without undergoing this process may result in harm, and the long-term consequences remain unknown. Most of us are far better off trying to get vitamins and minerals by eating a balanced diet with a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. It’s also much easier, cheaper and safer. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-listen-to-gwyneth-paltrow-ivs-are-not-a-shortcut-to-good-health-202621" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Caring

Is it possible to listen to too much music each day?

I love listening to music. I love music so much I decided to study it in college. I’m earning a <a href="https://www.songsmysisterlikes.com/">doctorate in music history</a>, for which I have researched everything from early 20th-century French music to 1960s funk. I make and perform music as well. I have played drums in rock and pop bands and composed original music for jazz ensembles. I always have my headphones on, too. I listen to music while taking a walk. <a href="https://www.okayplayer.com/music/j-dilla-lofi-hip-hop-influence.html">I listen to lo-fi hip-hop</a> while answering emails. I listen to Brazilian <a href="https://library.brown.edu/create/fivecenturiesofchange/chapters/chapter-6/bossa-nov/">bossa nova</a> music while I cook and clean. I listen to the jazz vocalist <a href="https://bostonreview.net/articles/the-sounds-of-struggle/">Abbey Lincoln</a> while driving around town or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/6TLQjuOF9aBRrEVLWBXhvW?si=068ea66c436f4fa3">upbeat electronic</a> music while taking long road trips. I miss out on a lot around me by constantly listening to music, however. I might not hear the sound of birds outside my window or my cat’s mewling when she wants to be fed or to play. I might not hear the rustling of the wind or the chatter of my family enjoying one another’s company right outside my closed door. Apart from causing you to miss out on all the sounds that surround you, generally speaking, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/addicted-to-music#is-it-possible">listening to music does not harm your body</a>. It does not damage your liver, poison your lungs or fry your brain. It is not possible to listen to too much music. <h2>Watch the volume</h2> There are, however, exceptions. For instance, you can damage your ears if you listen to music too loud for long periods. The World Health Organization estimates that around <a href="https://www.who.int/pbd/deafness/activities/MLS_Brochure_English_lowres_for_web.pdf">50% of teenagers and young adults</a> listen to music on personal audio devices at unsafe levels. Fortunately, some smartphones have built-in features that measure <a href="https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/check-your-headphone-levels-iph0596a9152/ios">how much sound is coming from your headphones</a>. Such features measure the output of sound in a unit of measurement called decibels. <a href="https://soundear.com/decibel-scale/">Silence will produce no decibels at all</a>. A jet plane engine produces 120. Everyday conversations are around 60 decibels, while a balloon popping can be as powerful as 150. The WHO has concluded that people can withstand <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/public_health_scientific_info.html">85 decibels consecutively for eight hours</a> without damaging their hearing. To give an example, I average about five hours of headphone listening a day at 70 decibels. <h2>Take precautions</h2> Anyone who plays music regularly or attends concerts and nightclubs needs to take extra caution as well. Several rock stars from the 1970s and 1980s have spoken out for years about their experience with hearing loss and <a href="https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2018/musicians-hearing-loss.html">tinnitus, a condition that causes ringing in the ears</a>. Their condition resulted from rehearsing and performing for long periods of time at loud volumes. <a href="https://decibelpro.app/blog/how-loud-is-a-rock-concert/">The average concert often exceeds 100 decibels</a>, and the WHO notes that such sound can begin to damage one’s ears after only 15 minutes. Standing closer to the amplifiers and musicians will make the decibel level increase. Most musicians rehearse and perform for more than 15 minutes. And most concerts last at least an hour, if not much longer. The solution, then, is to take precautions. Just the way airport workers who signal to pilots <a href="https://pksafety.com/blog/airport-worker-safety-equipment">wear specialized earmuffs</a> while they are on the tarmac to protect their hearing from damage caused by noisy jet planes, musicians and concertgoers can wear earplugs. I carry mine – which can cut out up to 21 decibels of noise – everywhere, attached to my keychain. I put my earplugs in while rehearsing or attending shows, or whenever I need to relax in a noisy environment. Other people rarely notice. “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5363618/">Sound of Metal</a>,” a movie released in 2019, portrays a metal drummer’s experience with hearing loss. It is a sobering reminder of the importance of protecting your hearing. But that doesn’t mean experiencing a lot of live or recorded music is bad for you. It is hard to listen to too much music, provided the volumes are reasonable. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared in <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-it-possible-to-listen-to-too-much-music-each-day-173566" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

The surprising trait people who listen to sad music share

Sad songs say so much, according to Elton John. And according to David Huron, an expert in music cognition, a predilection for them says a lot about the listener. Professor Huron, a visiting academic at the University of NSW, has explored why some people like sad-sounding music. Those who most enjoyed it scored high on empathy in personality tests. They also tended to score high on agreeableness and openness, his research at the Ohio State University found. About 50 per cent of people like listening to sad music, with 10 per cent saying it is the music they most enjoy. Professor Huron said the acoustical qualities of sad music closely reflect what makes a human voice sound sad, and some people “respond to a ‘sad’ song as though they were in the presence of a sad person – they feel a sense of compassion”. “As it turns out, compassion is a positive emotion,” he said. “People who are not so empathetic simply hear the music as sad, and feel sad themselves.” David Robertson, the chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, said music affects people in different ways “because each person brings with them a wealth of background when they’re listening to any piece of music”. “A concert is one of those moments when you go in and you are moved uniquely,” he said. “It’s interesting to look back at an audience after you’ve finished a performance and see the different expressions on their faces because they can range, [after] the same piece, anywhere from a sense of awe and glory ... to a sense of utter and complete intimacy and closing off of the rest of the world.” The SSO has been rehearsing Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, or solemn mass, for performances starting on Wednesday in the concert hall at the Sydney Opera House. The composer described it as his “greatest work”. Robertson said the piece “is so incredibly rich that you can come back to it time and time again and you find different things in it, which I think is an indication that these emotional triggers – whatever they may be – are different for us at different times of the day and different periods of our life”. Associate Professor Emery Schubert, who researches emotion and music at the University of NSW, said music can influence the way we feel intrinsically as well as through associations, “such as watching movies where the love scene has slow, gentle music playing, or a chase scene with fast, pulsating music”. “Importantly we may not be conscious of the rich history of connections we make over our lifetime between music and emotions,” he said. “But being aware of how the music affects us can make us experts at manipulating our own moods through music.” Image: Shutterstock

Music

Why women make up more than 80 per cent of true crime podcast listeners

It’s been a running joke for a while that most true crime podcast listeners are female. But it has now been revealed that young women make up a whopping 80 per cent of true crime podcast listeners. Dr Julia Shaw, a criminal psychologist and co-host of the true crime and science podcast Bad People, said the simple reason was due to women’s experiences. She explained that growing up, women are told to keep an eye out for any danger such as a man staring at you for too long or following you home. “Women seem particularly interested in the intricacies of the criminal mind,” she told The Daily Mail. “There is a real drive to understand the 'why', not just the 'how' of the crime.” Claire Bord, a publisher at Bookouture concurred with Dr Shaw’s statement explaining how easy it was for women to “resonate” with the situation. “These kind of storylines tap into dark themes that resonate with readers because we can see ourselves in these everyday scenarios and then imagine what could happen,” she said. “I also think there are aspects of the dark themes explored in psychological thrillers, and indeed true crime, that can speak deeply to readers who have experienced difficult times in their own lives.” Image: Shutterstock

Mind

Podcast listeners may be more open-minded

Are you a big podcast listener? A <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0265806" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new study</a> suggests that you may be more open-minded and intellectually curious than people who don’t listen to podcasts. Podcasts have become increasingly popular in recent years, with a reported 75.9 million podcast listeners in the US and 15.61 million in the UK as of 2020. Yet comparatively little research exists on how and why people listen to this type of on-demand audio content. “I mainly study social media use, but am an avid podcast listener,” explains Stephanie Tobin, a senior lecturer in psychology at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and first author on the new study. Tobin’s own favourite podcasts include <a href="https://www.fourbeers.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Two Psychologists Four Beers</a>, <a href="https://www.verybadwizards.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Very Bad Wizards</a>, <a href="https://www.chat10looks3.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Chat 10 Looks 3</a>, and <a href="https://myfavoritemurder.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">My Favorite Murder</a>. “I was interested in applying the same methods we use to understand why people use social media to understand why people listen to podcasts,” she says. Together with co-author Rosanna Guadagno of Stanford University in the United States, Tobin surveyed a sample of around 300 people from several different countries about their podcast listening habits. The participants also completed the Big Five Inventory, a validated questionnaire designed to measure <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/big-five-personality-traits-4176097" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">key personality traits</a>. “We found that people who were more open to experience, more curious, and who enjoyed thinking more were more likely to have listened to a podcast,” Tobin says. This fits with earlier research showing that these traits are associated with use of new technologies and using online platforms to find information. On the other hand, participants who scored higher on their need to belong were less likely to be podcast listeners. This was surprising to Tobin, who had expected the opposite relationship. Nevertheless, podcast listeners who spent more hours per week listening were more socially engaged with the podcasts they listened to, and experienced stronger parasocial (one-sided) relationships with podcast hosts. “I’d be interested to follow up on the social aspects, perhaps by looking at the online communities that form around specific podcasts,” says Tobin. This article originally appeared in <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/social-sciences/podcast-listener-personality/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a>. Image: Getty

Mind

Encanto, TikTok and the art of social storytelling: why music is not just for listening anymore

We need to talk about Bruno. The theme song from Disney’s hit movie Encanto (We don’t talk about Bruno) has become the <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/we-dont-talk-about-bruno-encanto-number-one-hot-100-second-week-1235028035/">first song from an animated movie to top the US charts for multiple weeks</a>. How did this come about? The answer is, once again, TikTok. The short-video platform is <a href="https://mashable.com/article/encanto-bruno-tiktok-trend">again behind the creation of a hit song</a>. TikTok is changing the music industry, how hits are made and how the platform opens a new way to discover new artists and new music. At the heart of the phenomenon are viral challenges or trends, in which creators use short clips from a song that are re-used by thousands or millions of other users in their videos. While TikTok videos do not count towards the Billboard charts, activity on the platform directly drives music consumption on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. Over <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/year-on-tiktok-music-report-2021">175 songs that trended on TikTok in 2021 charted on the Billboard Hot 100</a>, twice as many the year before. But how do trends, challenges, and memes make hits? The answer lies in how music has become creative material for social storytelling on TikTok, and how storytelling works when videos are only a few seconds short. <h2>Social storytelling with music</h2> Tom van Laer, associate professor of narratology at The University of Sydney Business School, explains what makes for good storytelling, "For a good story, you need three things. A story has a plot and a character… That’s the minimum for a story. For a good story you need a third thing, which is a dramatic curve." And this is where the music comes into play. When a challenge or trend emerges on TikTok, it always features the same clip from a particular song, which serves as a common story element across all those videos. As van Laer explains, "What you then get is a certain cultural capital or cultural knowledge that is already there. So then every new iteration is just added to that. And if you’re on the inside, if you in the know, then that is still something you could easily follow because you see the one video of 15 seconds only as another event in the bigger story." Because the clip is instantly recognisable by the audience it ties together all the videos that make up a TikTok challenge or trend. It acts as the meta-narrative that allows each creator to contribute their own interpretation of the story. This can take the form of imitations, such as in the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jamie32bsh/video/7058186727248235782">“Jamie Big” trend</a>, based on a original video that has been viewed more than 200 million times. It shows a man dancing to Nelly Furtado’s Say It Right in front of his bathroom mirror. Thousands of videos have <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@misskimnayoon/video/7069596684229102849">since imitated the original</a>, whereby a creator always films themselves in front of their bathroom mirror, switching to the original video on the beat change of the song. Other trends work by offering different interpretations of the same story line. A good example is the <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@scottyjames31/video/7061168649796717826">“Things that just make sense…” trend</a>, set to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9FMvfvkBro">Che la luna</a>, a version of a classic Sicilian folk song. In this video contributors film themselves showcasing the features of a particular location, each doing the same characteristic hand gestures. An example is Australian Olympian Scott James<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@scottyjames31/video/7061168649796717826"> filming his room</a>at the Olympic village in Beijing. Because the audience always recognises the characteristic song, they are instantly familiar with the story’s plot; they know what to expect and can thus simply enjoy each interpretation of the theme. The music provides the glue that holds together a social story, collectively told across many videos. A challenge or trend is thus a form of social storytelling, with the music acting like shorthand to provide the context for all the videos. We Don’t Talk About Bruno has provided material for a number of different trends, each driving its popularity. And besides the many Encanto fan edits featuring parts of the song, there is a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@alex.berglund/video/7060618332025900334">particular clip </a>with a catchy hook that underpins a story-line in which creators try to do a task in the first take of the video and after the beat change reveal why the task is so difficult. This features dance moves from the Encanto movie. <h2>Music as creative material</h2> To understand what makes TikTok such a powerful platform for the music industry, we must “unlearn” music as something we just listen to. On digital platforms like TikTok music is rapidly becoming a material for creating, for self-expression, for storytelling. Virality is then a by-product of the use of music as creative material for collective storytelling - one that provides the canvas, or meta-narrative, for each creator’s interpretation of the emerging story-line. With the most popular songs sometimes exceeding <a href="https://newsroom.tiktok.com/en-us/year-on-tiktok-music-report-2021">20 billion views on videos they soundtrack</a>, the scale of the phenomenon gives the platform its <a href="https://theconversation.com/love-it-or-hate-it-tiktok-is-changing-the-music-industry-171482">transformative role for the music industry</a>. Image credits: Disney This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/encanto-tiktok-and-the-art-of-social-storytelling-why-music-is-not-just-for-listening-anymore-178021" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

Would you wear a t-shirt that could listen to you?

Since we ditched our ancestral fur and became ‘naked’ apes some two million years ago, fabrics have been central to human life. For most of their history, developments in <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/news/wearable-tech-style/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fabric technology</a> have centred around novel fibres and increasing production capabilities. But a new era of fabric technology has begun. Motivated by the ubiquity of fabrics, and their intimate proximity to the human body, a team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US, has taken fabric research in a mind-boggling new direction, developing fabrics that can ‘hear’ sounds. Publishing in Nature, the researchers <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04476-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describe their development</a> of a fabric yarn interwoven with an electrical, or ‘<a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/three-minute-thesis-piezoelectric-energy-harvesting-human-movements-will-power-smartphones/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">piezoelectric</a>’ fibre. The resulting fabric has ‘hearing’ capabilities, using a mechanism similar to that of the human ear: the fabric medium plays the part of the tympanic membrane, converting pressure waves at audible frequencies into mechanical vibrations, which can then be processed into electrical signals. Only a small quantity of the specialised piezoelectric fibre is needed to make fabric acoustically sensitive. A single fibre can be used to generate tens of square metres of fabric microphone, which is then capable of detecting even very weak sound signals, such as human speech. Outside of fabric research circles, the drive to develop t-shirts that can listen to you may seem baffling. But the researchers say this transformation of fabrics could have exciting and far-reaching consequences, with uses ranging from law enforcement to monitoring heart health. For example, the researchers trialled a shirt design that incorporated multiple fibres woven into different positions on the body, using the time delay between signal detection to allow the direction of incoming sounds to be pinpointed. They say that such a garment could be useful for police officers to narrow down the direction of a gunshot, or for individuals with hearing aids to listen in specific directions while removing background noise. And there are more potential uses for those with hearing difficulties. With simple modifications, the fabric can be made to broadcast audible sounds as well as detecting them, facilitating communication between deaf individuals when both are wearing the fabric. Two-way communication garments could even let us talk to each other underwater. Draped across the skin of your chest, the fabrics could also capture cardiac signals – turning your shirt into a stethoscope that could potentially monitor your heart and respiratory condition in a comfortable, continuous and long-term manner. And importantly, the fabric is still easy-care, able to withstand being chucked in the washing machine at the end of a long day of listening. <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=185469&title=Would+you+wear+a+t-shirt+that+could+listen+to+you%3F" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /> <div id="contributors"> <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/materials/fabric-technology-fabric-that-can-hear-sound/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/jamie-priest" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jamie Priest</a>. Jamie Priest is a science journalist at Cosmos. She has a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from the University of Adelaide. Image: Getty Images </div>

Technology

Listening out for respiratory issues in newborn babies

Researchers at Monash University have developed software that, used in conjunction with a digital stethoscope, improves screening and monitoring capability and more accurate diagnosis of respiratory issues in vulnerable newborn babies. Their findings were <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9684869" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published last week in IEEE Access</a>.<div class="copy">The software removed surrounding noise from chest recordings. Such noise may come from the external environment, internal body sounds or the device itself, and can affect the quality of chest sound obtained with stethoscopes. Low-quality chest sound can make monitoring and diagnosis challenging, or lead to misdiagnosis. “Respiratory issues are common in preterm babies,” says Dr Faezah Marzbanrad from the Monash University Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering.“The software we’ve created removes all of the surrounding noise from chest recordings so the heart and lung sounds are separated and very clean. This enables doctors and nurses to listen to them very clearly without interference and better diagnose any potential issues.”The team collected 207 chest sounds from 119 preterm babies, each 10 seconds long. They used a deep learning model called YAMNet, pre-trained on sound classification to automatically detect heart and respiratory rate.They fine-tuned YAMNet on the 207 chest sounds and found that the model could predict heart and respiratory rates with about 57% and 51% accuracy. They also found that increasing sound quality reduces vital sign error, prompting the development of the new software that improves chest sound quality.“Chest sounds in newborn babies are very difficult to assess and interpret, especially in preterm or sick babies,” says Associate Professor Atul Malhotra, Senior Neonatologist and Head of Early Neurodevelopment Clinic at Monash Children’s Hospital.He says small chest size, fast breathing and heart rate, and additional noise from neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) equipment can affect chest sound quality. “We rely a lot on chest X-rays and invasive blood gas monitoring to indicate and monitor cardio-respiratory illness in babies,” he adds. “This software gives us a much better resolution to interpret, assess and monitor newborn’s illness.”The neonatal period is the most vulnerable time for a baby, with 1.7% of live births resulting in deaths. Stethoscope-recorded chest sounds contain crucial cardiac and respiratory information that helps clinicians timely assess for signs of severe health risks.Marzbanrad says the software is easy to use for hospital staff and parents and would be precious in rural and remote regions and low- and middle-income countries where health resources may be limited. A baby’s chest sound can be recorded and sent to a specialised doctor for real-time analysis.“It’s not always practical to get to a doctor, and on many occasions, breathing problems happen overnight when you can’t get to a doctor,” she says. “This ensures that you can record the sound in real-time, and it’s something useful for the doctor to assess.”The team will trial the software in conjunction with new digital stethoscope hardware at the Monash Children’s Hospital and expect it to be available worldwide in the following months.<img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="height: 1px!important;width: 1px!important;border: 0!important" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=181098&title=Software+might+improve+outcomes+for+newborns+with+cardio+and+respiratory+issues" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /></div><div id="contributors"><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/medicine/listening-respiratory-issues-newborn-babies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="null" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos</a>, a quarterly science magazine. Image: Getty Images</div>

Technology

Five reasons we should listen more closely to TV dialogue

People often ask me why <a href="http://www.qadda.com/MonikasResearch.html">I study television dialogue</a>. Behind such a question sometimes lie deep-seated assumptions about the low value of popular culture. Such underlying assumptions can extend not just to the cultural product itself, but also to its systematic (academic) study. In other words, if pop culture is worthless, then surely its study is also worthless. Nevertheless, television scholars have been analysing television for more than 30 years. But linguists have only recently started to examine the language of TV series, in other words TV dialogue. We all know a <a href="http://www.tvguide.com/news/tvs-60-greatest-catchphrases-1070102.aspx">TV catchphrase or two</a>, but the influence of TV series on our culture is both more subtle and more widespread than this. We need to pay attention to TV series and the dialogue they contain. Here are five reasons why: <h2>1) It’s everywhere</h2> <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46278/original/q5dfqxb6-1397432819.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> Netflix tweet quoting House of Cards. TV dialogue used to be something that we only encountered when watching our favourite series live on television. The rise of new technologies means there’s more opportunity for us than ever to consume TV dialogue. We can now engage with it whenever and wherever we want. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/47091/original/w9cmv268-1398643354.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" alt="" /> A catchphrase from the Big Bang Theory - on a t-shirt. Monika Bednarek New technologies also expose us to TV dialogue through other ways. Friends might live-tweet a dialogue snippet from a shared favourite show. Fan websites might ask us to nominate our most beloved dialogue exchange. Networks might advertise their latest show through TV quotes. TV dialogue is even wearable, and we can use our bodies to put it on display. <h2>2) It’s incredibly popular around the globe</h2> TV series are hugely popular cultural products. They attract billions of viewers around the globe. TV series from the US and Britain are especially successful – from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1606375/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Downton Abbey</a> to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436992/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Doctor Who</a>, from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Game of Thrones</a> to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442437/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Modern Family</a>. This means that we all encounter a lot of American and British English without even leaving Australia. And the same goes for audiences who speak English as <a href="http://grammar.about.com/od/e/g/English-As-A-Foreign-Language-Efl.htm">a second or foreign language</a>. TV dialogue is actually used to learn and teach English around the world. I know for sure this was the case for me. Growing up in Germany, I complemented my English lessons by watching endless re-runs of American TV series. I still remember learning expressions like fall (for autumn), take a raincheck, and how to pronounce the word psychology from watching TV. TV dialogue clearly crosses national borders. Not just when American, British or Australian TV series make it overseas. European TV series like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0826760/?ref_=nv_sr_2">The Killing</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1733785/?ref_=nv_sr_2">The Bridge</a> or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2521668/?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Returned</a> have been huge hits in English-speaking nations, too. <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P2Eh1kwxWRI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> “You’re actually watching something with subtitles?” This is fertile ground for research into languages and cultures: What gets taken up in the transference of the dialogue from one culture to another, through dubbing and subtitling? And how is Australian TV dialogue different from American TV dialogue? Or French from British? <h2>3) It’s high-quality writing</h2> Reading about TV series, I keep encountering the expression “<a href="http://www.avclub.com/article/the-golden-age-of-tv-is-dead-long-live-the-golden--103129">golden age of television</a>”. This usually refers to the recent emergence of high-quality TV series funded by networks like <a href="http://www.hbo.com/">HBO</a>, <a href="http://www.amctv.com/">AMC</a>, <a href="http://www.sho.com/sho/home">Showtime</a>, and the online distributor <a href="https://www.netflix.com/">Netflix</a>. TV dialogue now definitely needs to be taken seriously in terms of its artistic sophistication. Programmes like <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903747/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Breaking Bad</a>, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306414/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">The Wire</a> or Australia’s <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1530541/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Offspring</a> receive critical acclaim and are nominated for awards. Australians tuned into the Logies last night, with its category of <a href="http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2014/04/logie-awards-2014-winners.html">outstanding drama series won by Redfern Now</a>. In a couple of weeks we’ll know who was successful at the <a href="http://awards.bafta.org/award/2014/television">British Academy Television Awards</a>. Then there are also the Emmys coming up in August and the Golden Globes which took place back in January. Allan Ball, the creator of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844441/?ref_=nv_sr_1">True Blood</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248654/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Six Feet Under</a>, has suggested that “television right now is far more welcoming to interesting, complicated, nuanced storytelling for adults than movies are”. <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hPhhF-NbUvw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Alan Ball at the Opera House. In such quality series, TV audiences encounter sophisticated characters with depth. We are also asked to follow sometimes difficult dialogue and get into complex story arcs that span many episodes or even seasons. This is one of the reasons why literary and cultural scholars also study TV series. For example, in 2010 researchers at The University of Sydney organised a symposium on Mad Men. Last year I participated in a <a href="http://arts.brookes.ac.uk/events/items/140913-crime-drama-symposium.html">symposium on TV crime drama at Oxford Brookes University</a>. <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JEMbzcHzR30?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Writing Mad Men. But it’s not just in academia that TV writing has become more valued. Interviews with TV writers and creators are regularly published in the media. Writers/creators like Alan Ball and Joss Whedon (of cult series <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/?ref_=nv_sr_1">Buffy the Vampire Slayer</a>) speak to sold-out audiences at the Sydney Opera House. <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SMuZs5iPdgw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Joss Whedon at the Sydney Opera House. On 1 May, Vince Gilligan (who created Breaking Bad) will speak at Sydney Town Hall. The Sydney Writer’s Festival event was sold out within days. At the beginning of the 21st century, we clearly value high-quality TV dialogue. <h2>4) It engages us on a social and psychological level</h2> Watching TV series has long been more than an isolated and isolating experience. TV dialogue engages us on a social level. We watch TV series together or talk to each other about them, at home, among friends and colleagues, and with strangers. We also build virtual communities around a TV series, for example on fan websites, facebook or Twitter. As crossword maker and Sydney Morning Herald columnist <a href="http://davidastle.com/">David Astle</a> put it: “<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/are-the-mass-media-the-clearing-houses-of-english/3592934">TV transcends the TV room</a>”. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/46298/original/pcmn5zj3-1397438393.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="" /> Virtual sociality from HBO. TV dialogue also engages us on a psychological level. The TV characters that we encounter may become objects of hate, admiration or identification. We clearly engage with them emotionally. Researchers speak of the ‘<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S1532785XMEP0403_04#.U0NeU1fDU1w">para-social’ relationships</a> we form with such characters. TV dialogue clearly has an important role to play in building these characters. <a href="http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/multi.2012.31.2.issue-2/multi-2012-0010/multi-2012-0010.xml?format=INT">In one of my studies</a> I wanted to know what makes The Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon so “special”. The study showed how specific cues in the dialogue make him a nerd-par-excellence, like his inappropriate use of formal language and unintentional impoliteness. <h2>5) It tells us important stories about our world</h2> TV dialogue tells us and teaches us a lot about the world we live in. Philosopher Mark Rowlands has written a book about TV series with the tongue-in-cheek title <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Everything-Know-Learned-Philosophy-Explained/dp/0091898358">Everything I Know I Learned from TV.</a> To put it strongly, TV tells us who we are and how we live. For example, medical shows like House and Nurse Jackie address ethical issues and the work-life balance. Crime series are often propelled by current social issues or actual cases. Political dramas like West Wing and House of Cards provide searing political commentary. Programmes like Deadwood tackle human nature and morality. Only recently, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/apr/07/game-of-thrones-parallels-prime-minister">Julia Gillard compared Game of Thrones to her time as Prime Minister</a>. In her words, “after all, what girl has not yearned for a few dragons when in a tight spot?” For me, writing is at the centre of telling these stories about our world. And this is just one of five reasons why I believe we need to pay close attention to TV dialogue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/monika-bednarek-121197">Monika Bednarek</a>, Senior Lecturer in Linguistics, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-reasons-we-should-listen-more-closely-to-tv-dialogue-25585">original article</a>. Image: HBO

Apple’s iPod came out two decades ago and changed how we listen to music. Where are we headed now?

On October 23, 2001, Apple released the iPod — a portable media player that promised to overshadow the clunky design and low storage capacity of MP3 players introduced in the mid-1990s. The iPod boasted the ability to “hold 1,000 songs in your pocket”. Its personalised listening format revolutionised the way we consume music. And with more than 400 million units <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/rise-and-fall-apple-ipod-2020-1?r=US&IR=T">sold since its release</a>, there’s no doubt it was a success. Yet, two decades later, the digital music landscape continues to rapidly evolve. <h2>A market success</h2> The iPod expanded listening beyond the constraints of the home stereo system, allowing the user to plug into not only their headphones, but also their car radio, their computer at work, or their hi-fi system at home. It made it easier to entwine these disparate spaces into a single personalised soundtrack throughout the day. There were several preconditions that led to the iPod’s success. For one, it contributed to the end of an era in which people listened to relatively fixed music collections, such as mixtapes, or albums in their running order. The iPod (and MP3 players more generally) normalised having random collections of individual tracks. Then during the 1990s, an MP3 encoding algorithm <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=pGhIDQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA445&dq=mp3+fraunhofer&ots=AMSYOhB5UQ&sig=CrnewI4eSiOiWQgMiuiTO8NFRYs&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=mp3%20fraunhofer&f=false">developed</a> at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany allowed unprecedented audio data compression ratios. In simple terms, this made music files much smaller than before, hugely increasing the quantity of music that could be stored on a device. Then came peer-to-peer file-sharing services <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/31/napster-twenty-years-music-revolution">such as Napster</a>, Limewire and BitTorrent, released in 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively. These furthered the democratisation of the internet for the end user (with Napster <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/may/31/napster-twenty-years-music-revolution">garnering 80 million users</a> in three years). The result was a fast-changing digital landscape where music piracy ran rife. The accessibility of music significantly changed the relationship between listener and musician. In 2003, Apple responded to the music piracy crisis by launching its iTunes store, creating an <a href="https://digitalguardian.com/blog/what-digital-rights-management">attractive model</a> for copyright-protected content. Meanwhile, the iPod continued to sell, year after year. It was designed to do one thing, and did it well. But this would change around 2007 with the release of the touchscreen <a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/2604020/the-evolution-of-apples-iphone.html">iPhone</a> and <a href="https://www.androidauthority.com/history-android-os-name-789433/">Android</a> smartphones. <h2>Computer in your pocket</h2> The rise of touchscreen smartphones ultimately led to the iPod’s downfall. Interestingly, the music app on the original iPhone was called “iPod”. The iPod’s functions were essentially reappropriated and absorbed into the iPhone. The iPhone was a flexible and multifunctional device: an iPod, a phone and an internet communicator all in one — a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/29/my-electronic-swiss-army-knife-readers-on-10-years-of-the-iphone">computer in your pocket</a>. And by making the development tools for their products freely available, Apple and Google allowed third-party developers to create apps for their new platforms in the thousands. It was a game-changer for the mobile industry. And the future line of tablets, such as Apple’s iPad released in 2010, continued this trend. In 2011, iPhone sales <a href="https://www.macstories.net/news/apple-q4-2011-results-28-27-billion-revenue-17-07-million-iphones-11-12-million-ipads-4-89-million-macs-sold/">overtook the iPod</a>, and in 2014 the iPod Classic was <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2019-09-14-this-week-in-tech-history-apple-ipod-classic-discontinued.html">discontinued</a>. Unlike the Apple Watch, which serves as a companion to smartphones, single-purpose devices such as the iPod Classic are now seen as antiquated and obsolete. <h2>Music streaming and the role of the web</h2> As of this year, mobile devices are responsible for <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/277125/share-of-website-traffic-coming-from-mobile-devices/">54.8% of web traffic worldwide</a>. And while music piracy still exists, its influence has been significantly reduced by the arrival of streaming services such as Spotify and YouTube. These platforms have had a profound effect on how we engage with music as active and passive listeners. Spotify supports an online community-based approach to music sharing, with curated playlists. Based on our listening habits, it uses our activity data and a range of machine-learning <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/2959100.2959120">techniques</a> to generate automatic recommendations for us. Both Spotify and YouTube have also embraced <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/19/15833880/spotify-sponsored-songs-playlists-test">sponsored content</a>, which boosts the visibility of certain labels and artists. And while we may want to bypass popular music recommendations — especially to support new generations of musicians who lack visibility — the reality is we’re faced with a quantity of music we can’t possibly contend with. As of February this year, more than 60,000 tracks were <a href="https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/over-60000-tracks-are-now-uploaded-to-spotify-daily-thats-nearly-one-per-second/">being uploaded</a> to Spotify each day. <h2>What’s next?</h2> The experience of listening to music will become increasingly immersive with time, and we’ll only find more ways to seamlessly integrate it into our lives. Some signs of this include: <ul> <li> Gen Z’s growing obsession with platforms such as TikTok, which is a huge promotional tool for artists lucky enough to have their track attached to a viral trend </li> <li> new interactive tools for music exploration, such as <a href="http://radio.garden/visit/perth/cKenL5sw">Radio Garden</a> (which lets you tune into radio stations from across the globe), the <a href="https://eternalbox.dev/jukebox_index.html">Eternal Jukebox for Spotify</a> and <a href="https://github.com/ShunSawada/Music-information-processing/issues/28which">Instrudive</a> </li> <li> the use of wearables, such as <a href="https://www.bose.com.au/en_au/products/frames.html">Bose’s audio sunglasses</a> and bone-conduction headphones, which allow you to listen to music while interacting with the world rather than being closed off, and </li> <li> the surge in <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/legalentertainment/2021/02/09/the-future-of-live-events-ar-vr-and-advertising/?sh=412c20c42b65">virtual music performances</a> during the COVID pandemic, which suggests virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality will become increasingly accepted as spaces for experiencing music performances. </li> </ul> The industry is also increasingly adopting immersive audio. Apple has incorporated Dolby Atmos 3D spatial audio into both its Logic Pro music production software and music on the iTunes store. With spatial audio capabilities, the listener can experience surround sound with the convenience of portable headphones. As for algorithms, we can assume more sophisticated machine learning will emerge. In the future, it may recommend music based on our feelings. For example, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1071581918301654">MoodPlay</a> is a music recommendation system that lets users explore music through mood-based filtering. Some advanced listening devices even adapt to our physiology. The Australian-designed <a href="https://www.nuraphone.com/">Nura headphones</a> can pick up information about how a specific listener’s ears respond to different sound frequencies. They purport to automatically adjust the sound to perfectly suit that listener. Such technologies are taking “personalised listening” to a whole new level, and advances in this space are set to continue. If the digital music landscape has changed so rapidly within the past 20 years, we can only assume it will continue to change over the next two decades, too. Image credits: Shutterstock This article first appeared on <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/apples-ipod-came-out-two-decades-ago-and-changed-how-we-listen-to-music-where-are-we-headed-now-169272" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.

Music

“Always listen to mummy”: Kid who refused to take off mask for school photos gets $30k

Image: Facebook If Nicole Peoples ever wondered whether her son followed her instructions when she’s not around, she now has her answer and a sweet photo as proof. Mason Peoples refused to take his face mask off, even for his school photos. His mother told him only to take it off to eat and he knows to: “always listen to his mummy.” Ms Peoples posted about the young boy’s exchange with the school photographer on her Facebook account. When it came time for his photo to be taken, the photographer encouraged the first-grade student to take off his mask even for two seconds, but he politely declined. “I said ‘No thank you, my mum told me I can’t’,” the boy told CNN proudly. “We had a conversation at the beginning of school about the importance of safety and how germs can be spread if he didn’t have his mask on, so he makes sure to have it on at all times,” his mother told CNN. “He’s very proud and he loves to show me how he’s followed the rules so that’s why he was so excited to come home and tell me about this picture story.” “You should be proud!” said one of the Facebook commenters. “It has to be hard to stand up to an adult, but he had the confidence to stand up for what he thought was right. Good job mama!” “What an incredible keepsake for this crazy era we’re living through” remarked another. Ms Peoples said many people have reached out asking her if they could send her money to reward Mason’s diligence with a treat, so she set up a GoFundMe page with the goal of $7. A total of AU$30,000 has been donated and will go towards Mason’s college fund. His mother was thankful at the “outpouring of love”. “Thank you for showing him honesty and integrity will make a big difference in this world,” she said. Ms Peoples told CNN that Mason was taught to take the virus very seriously, especially after the death of her grandfather in January due to COVID-19 complications. “He was a very significant part of our daily life, so Mason was impacted, they’ve seen it firsthand,” Ms Peoples said.

Caring

Listening to music can give you an edge to win

More than just easy listening Millions of joggers habitually cope with the physical discomfort of running using the distractive effects of music, in particular by synchronising their stride rate to the tempo of the music. Swimmers now embrace the tedium of endless laps by tuning in to their favourite tracks, thanks to tiny MP3 players that clip onto goggles and deliver music through the cheekbone direct into the inner ear. For athletes to be headphone-clad has been de rigeur for many years but it now appears to be almost compulsory. After music devotee Michael Phelps swam to an all-time record of eight Olympic gold medals in 2008, one of his first tasks when arriving home was to personally thank rap artist Lil’ Wayne for the inspiration he had provided in Beijing.<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" class="license"></a> But is the ubiquitous use of music by athletes and exercisers justified or simply hype? Well, decades of research on the use of music in sport and exercise has confirmed some powerful effects and surprising benefits. Music and performance The first published <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/23267224.1911.10651270#.VDuQUfmSyyc">study</a> on the subject, in 1911, showed that cyclists in a six-day race in New York produced faster lap times when a brass band was playing. Although it was impossible to separate the effects of the music from the increased crowd noise that it generated, this humble observation paved the way for the many scientific studies that have followed. A recent meta-analysis of more than 100 empirical investigations of music in sport and exercise conducted over the past century has confirmed that music produces significant beneficial effects on psychological responses, perceived exertion, physical performance, and even physiological functioning. Although it should be no surprise that music influences psychological responses, – especially our moods, emotions and feelings – the ways that athletes use music to manipulate their pre-competition mindset are occasionally surprising. Olympic rowing champion, James Cracknell, listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Get On Top to inspire him to the ultimate effort is logical enough. But what music would you recommend to an Olympic super-heavyweight boxer before his gold medal bout? Tina Turner’s Simply The Best or Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger would be popular choices. But how about Japanese classical music? When you’re a technical boxer trying to generate the qualities of speed, lightness, precision and relaxation to outbox a brawling opponent then his choice of music starts to make sense. It certainly worked for Great Britain’s Audley Harrison, a former student of mine, at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The rhythm of exercise Music has the capacity to reduce perceived exertion by about 10% when used during physical activity, which explains the enduring popularity of exercise-to-music classes. The stimulative and motivational properties of up-tempo music, with lyrics that encourage effort (Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run, Britney Spears’ Stronger) and associations of glory or success (M People’s Search For The Hero, Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive) typically help exercisers to work harder for longer by masking the objective level of effort. In turn, this produces a performance benefit that some elite performers have been able to exploit. Ethiopian superstar runner, Haile Gebrselassie, the double Olympic 10,000m gold medallist and multiple world champion, has broken several world records while running in time to the high-tempo song Scatman, the rhythm and tempo of which he describes as “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/the-running-blog/2013/may/10/haile-gebrselassie-interview">perfect for running</a>”. A 2012 <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21803652">study</a> conducted with elite triathletes at the Queensland Academy of Sport showed that treadmill running to exhaustion was increased by a staggering 18% when participants ran in time to music that included everything from Oasis and UB40 to Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, compared to completing the same task without music. Such clear performance benefits have caused music to be labelled a “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/raiseyourgame/sites/motivation/psychedup/pages/costas_karageorghis.shtml">legal drug</a>” by some commentators. Perhaps for this reason, many sports prohibit listening to music while performing. The New York Marathon famously tried to “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/sports/01iht-run.1.8142612.html">strongly discourage</a>” competitors from using personal listening devices in 2007, ostensibly for safety reasons. The outcry and outright defiance from a large proportion of recreational runners who used their iPods regardless, caused race organisers to subsequently restrict the ban to elite runners, many of whom prefer to focus attention on sensory feedback from their own bodies rather than, as they see it, the distracting effects of music. Sing when you’re winning Of course nothing can prevent athletes from creating their own musical rhythm during a race, like six-time marathon kayak world champion, Anna Hemmings, who gained an edge by singing R. Kelly’s The World’s Greatest to herself, but only during the world championships so as not to dilute its impact. Other <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21803652;%20http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22828457">recent studies</a> have demonstrated greater physiological efficiency when exercising to music, notably the completion of identical workloads using significantly less oxygen consumption than without music. This indicates that music effects are far more than just a psychological phenomenon. Whether the physiological benefits are explained by greater biomechanical efficiency derived from a metronome effect, improved blood flow derived from a generalised relaxation response, or some other mechanism that is not yet well understood, there is little doubt about the wide-ranging potential benefits of listening to music. There’s no shortage of ways to use music to your advantage and many different musical genres have been shown to boost athletic performance, although preferably not something that leaves the Wallabies giggling before taking on the All Blacks in Brisbane tomorrow evening.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32822/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/peter-terry-140674">Peter Terry</a>, Professor of Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-southern-queensland-1069">University of Southern Queensland</a> This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-win-let-music-give-you-the-edge-32822">original article</a>.

Music

Listen up, young folk: Words of advice from care home residents goes viral

Senior residents at a nursing home have gone viral after sharing their wisdom and advice for the younger generation on Facebook. St Clair Nursing Center in Missouri, US has helped pensioners share their messages to young people in its ‘advice of the day’ series. Since last month, the care home has been sharing pictures of the elderly residents holding a whiteboard with their name, age and unique insight. The initiative was created by activities manager Debbie Michael, who chose a resident to participate each day and took the pictures for the centre’s Facebook page. <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FStClairNursingCenter%2Fphotos%2Fa.2179977855376867%2F2937791032928875%2F%3Ftype%3D3&width=500" width="500" height="594" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe> 91-year-old resident Bob has captured the attention of people around the Internet with his advice: “Find someone to love, and keep on loving them”. His picture has gained more than 14,000 comments and 129,000 shares, and kickstarted a #BeLikeBob campaign with merchandise sales. 81-year-old Rose advised the youth to “get a good education”, while 92-year-old Waunita encouraged everyone to “eat, drink and be merry”. Scroll through the gallery to read the advice from the residents. Photo credit: <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.facebook.com/StClairNursingCenter" target="_blank">St. Clair Nursing Center</a>

Retirement Life

Skype users warned after Microsoft could be “listening” to calls

A new investigation done by tech website Motherboard has revealed that Microsoft workers could be “listening in” on your Skype conversations. It has been revealed that some employees occasionally have to review real video chat that has been processed by translation software in order to check the quality of translations, according to <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/9680295/microsoft-caught-secretly-listening-to-skype-calls/">The Sun</a>. A Microsoft spokesperson told Motherboard that Microsoft collects voice data to improve features on Skype. They said: “We also put in place several procedures designed to prioritise users’ privacy before sharing this data with our vendors, including de-identifying data, requiring non-disclosure agreements with vendors and their employees, and requiring that vendors meet the high privacy standards set out in European law.” Paul Bischoff, a privacy advocate from Comparitech.com, told <a href="https://www.news.com.au/technology/online/security/microsoft-could-be-listening-to-some-skype-calls/news-story/d92ee2c5f713af3a7252be645004a365">news.com.au</a>: “Microsoft clearly states that recordings and transcriptions are analysed to verify accuracy and make corrections. “The fact that humans are performing that analysis might make users uneasy, but I don’t think there’s much risk to end users. “That is, unless a contractor steals recordings and gives them to a Vice reporter. Microsoft ought to take steps to ensure this can’t happen in the future.” “I recommend users refrain from revealing any identifying information while using Skype Translation and Cortana. Unless you identify yourself in the recording, there’s almost no way for a human analyst to figure out who you are.” Skype is an online video chat and voice call service that also provides an instant messaging platform. Javvad Malik, a security awareness advocate at KnowBe4, said: “This latest revelation goes to show more needs to be done to ensure consumer data is being protected when customers use such services. “In this instance, there needs to be a clear level of transparency and honesty about the entire call-recording process to give people a true understanding of what they are signing up for. “There is a fine line between invading someone’s privacy and collecting data for business purposes; a line that if crossed, can lead to serious breaches of data privacy.”

Technology

5 tips to ensure your supermarket is listening to you on social media

Making yourself heard by big businesses can be tricky. Even when companies have a presence on social media, you might question whether they are genuinely interested in providing opportunities for meaningful dialogue. Is anyone really listening, or are we just talking to ourselves? There have been refreshing signs that supermarkets can be persuaded to listen to the demands of their customers. So how do you make yourself heard by retailers on social media? After qualitatively examining over <a href="https://researchportal.bath.ac.uk/en/publications/the-never-ending-story-discursive-legitimation-in-social-media-di">68,000 supermarket social media posts</a> with colleagues at the University of Nottingham, here are my five tips for communicating with corporations – and getting noticed. 1. Introduce yourself There are countless posts vying for attention in the virtual world of social media, so you need to carve out a unique voice. Why should the retailer listen to you? Begin by making it clear who you are. Start with: “As a loyal customer…”, “As a farmer…”, “As a woman…” or “As a dad…” and you give yourself an identity. Do you live near a polluted river that is full of discarded plastic bags? Are you a parent who volunteers in the local community and needs help? Have you been a loyal consumer for years? This is a strategy used particularly well by the #stopfundinghate campaign, which is targeting retailers who advertise in The Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Express: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/coopuk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@coopuk</a> As a member & regular shopper i would 💙 to see you <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stopfundinghate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stopfundinghate</a>. Jars with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/thecoopway?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#thecoopway</a> ethics?? Make a stand! <a href="https://twitter.com/StopFundingHate?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@StopFundingHate</a> — Dominique Wedge (@MistyWedge) <a href="https://twitter.com/MistyWedge/status/833970051111870464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 21, 2017</a></blockquote> Building authority is key to establishing a legitimate base upon which to launch your argument. Do not underestimate the voice of experience. 2. Back up your argument You may well have a valid point to make. But no amount of ANGRY CAPITAL LETTERS, repeated exclamation marks or sad face emojis will communicate a reasoned argument. Instead, a strong case can be built by linking to the content of the organisation’s own policy, relevant legislation, a news article, or even a key image or video: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> Tesco <a href="https://twitter.com/Tesco?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tesco</a>, I wanted to buy Organic produce from you today but I kept walking. I bought my produce elseware today just because of your needless plastic packaging. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/refusingplastic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#refusingplastic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/organic?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#organic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tesco?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#tesco</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/plasticfree?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#plasticfree</a> <a href="https://t.co/AKL8WOclCv">pic.twitter.com/AKL8WOclCv</a> — Betty's Garden 🌻 (@BettyInCork) <a href="https://twitter.com/BettyInCork/status/957305468594065408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2018</a></blockquote> In lobbying supermarkets to stop stocking The Sun newspaper back in 2012, the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/no-more-page-3-our-grassroots-campaign-took-on-a-huge-corporation-and-we-won-9992371.html">“No More Page 3” (#NMP3) campaign</a> provided a masterclass in rational argument of an emotive issue. Through a whole host of <a href="https://twitter.com/NoMorePage3?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor">social media discussions</a>, campaigners skilfully drew on <a href="http://proceedings.aom.org/content/2015/1/16085.short">facts, figures and feelings</a> to persuade retailers such as Tesco, Sainbury’s and the Co-op to stop selling The Sun newspaper until it removed Page 3. In a world of fake news, make sure you are armed with facts. 3. Go compare Competition between UK supermarkets is stiff – so holding retailers to account against their rivals is a great way to galvanise action. Back in 2013, Co-op bowed to social media pressure and announced that it would only sell “lads mags” that were covered by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/jul/29/loaded-owner-cooperative-lads-mags-ban">“modesty wraps”</a>. Days later, Tesco did the same, saying it had <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23558211">“listened carefully”</a> to consumer suggestions (and perhaps those of its competitors). Today, we have seen a similar approach taken to the under-16 energy drink ban: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> VICTORY for <a href="https://twitter.com/jamieoliver?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jamieoliver</a> and the <a href="https://twitter.com/DailyMirror?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DailyMirror</a> on our energy drinks campaign that can make the nations children healthier. All these supermarkets have now banned the sale of energy drinks to under 16s ✅ Waitrose ✅ Aldi ✅ Asda ✅ Tesco ✅ Sainsburys ✅ Morrisons ✅ Lidl — Johnny Goldsmith (@MirrorJohnny) <a href="https://twitter.com/MirrorJohnny/status/956841243438469120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2018</a></blockquote> You can even compare supermarkets to themselves. Does the talk match the walk? Are there inconsistencies between what the supermarket said it would do, and what it actually did? 4. Tell a story On social media, arguments should be short and concise. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a narrative. Making an emotional connection is key and what better way to do this than setting the scene with a dramatic plot, personal triumph, unresolved mystery, happy ending or tale of woe? On the topic of <a href="https://theconversation.com/whatever-happened-to-bans-on-gm-produce-in-british-supermarkets-51153">genetically modified organisms</a>, for example, we found evidence of retailers being construed both as villains (“I will no longer be shopping in your stores now you are to use GMO fed meat”) and heroes (“Thank you for your reassurance, I will continue to happily shop in your stores”). Characterisation helps to convey an opinion: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> Thanks for the heads up <a href="https://twitter.com/ProfTimLang?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ProfTimLang</a>, will start building my own network of trusted suppliers now, don't trust supermarkets anymore. not interested in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GMO?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GMO</a> corn fed chicken and all that crap. Sorry <a href="https://twitter.com/Tesco?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Tesco</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/asda?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@asda</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LidlUK?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LidlUK</a> etc. <a href="https://t.co/E7pT9vMAvE">https://t.co/E7pT9vMAvE</a> — Anna Lehmann (@BusterOnAir) <a href="https://twitter.com/BusterOnAir/status/951141308093075456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2018</a></blockquote> 5. Play devil’s advocate Social media is seen by some as something of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/nov/29/vortex-online-political-debate-arguments-trump-brexit">vortex</a> – a negative time drain that consumes far too much emotional energy. But there is a benefit to online rage, in that it makes conversations continue. The more vibrant and charged discussions involve a plurality of perspectives and some healthy antagonism, particularly around complex socio-political topics such as gender objectification or animal welfare. Keep fuelling the fire and stoking the debate with original and divisive opinions. Keep disagreeing with each other – and the companies. It is when organisational boundaries are truly tested that the real learning can occur. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> why is it going to take 5 years to replace plastic packaging with card or paper packaging? especially when compared with much larger stores like asda or tesco you do not have as many own label products as them? would be nice if could be done in 2 years — Kev (@kevcampbell) <a href="https://twitter.com/kevcampbell/status/955018179499188224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2018</a></blockquote> So whether it’s consumer reward schemes, customer convenience or issues of social responsibility, every comment in supermarket social media adds to the rich tapestry of online debate. There are ways to make yourself heard, and to improve the way retailers serve their customers. Social media channels can be effective online petri dishes for organisational learning – the companies just have to keep listening.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90634/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Written by Sarah Glozer, Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Business & Society, University of Bath. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/five-tips-to-ensure-your-supermarket-is-listening-to-you-on-social-media-90634">The Conversation</a>.

Retirement Income

Want to know if your partner's cheating on you? Just listen to their voice

Picture Morgan Freeman, Donald Trump or Margaret Thatcher. Most likely you can hear their voices in your mind, and the characteristic inflections that they put on certain words, as well as their tone and pitch. Even without listening to the words, when you hear someone speak you can pick up important information about them from characteristics such as how loud or deep their voice is. At the most basic level, voices convey biological characteristics such as whether someone is <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/279/1728/601">male or female</a>, their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347204003987?via%3Dihub">body size</a> and <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/277/1699/3509">physical strength</a>, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327027hc0803_2">age and sexual maturity</a>. For example, Donald Trump’s voice can signal to you that he is a man, and that he has passed middle age. But did you know that voices can also signal a person’s attractiveness, fertility and even the likelihood of them being unfaithful? A popular theory with evolutionary psychologists, known as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12110-003-1008-y">“cads versus dads</a>”, suggests that more masculine, dominant men are not as paternal and generally invest less in their children and grandchildren than less masculine men. Yet research shows women generally prefer <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347204003987?via%3Dihub">deeper voiced, more masculine-sounding men</a>, especially when these women are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0018506X05001704">near ovulation</a>. This may be because partnering with deeper-voiced men could lead to genetically healthier children. Deeper voices have been linked to having more <a href="http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/6/682">surviving children and grandchildren</a>, <a href="http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/283/1829/20152830">higher testosterone and</a> lower stress hormones, and longer-term survival in men. On the other hand, deeper-voiced men are also rated by women as more likely to <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/147470491100900109">cheat on a partner</a> and as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513816300368?via%3Dihub#f0005">less trustworthy</a> in general. Women who judge men with lower-pitched voices as more likely to cheat also <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886913012324?via%3Dihub">prefer those men for short-term</a> rather than long-term partners. Meanwhile, when women <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.1542">are breastfeeding</a> and so currently taking care of a child, they are more likely to prefer men with higher-pitched voices than at other times. This suggests women use something in men’s voices to try to assess how likely to cheat they are, as well as their general trustworthiness. This in turn can affect their attractiveness as a partner, depending on whether the women are drawn towards the paternal care of a potential long-term mate or just good genes. Spotting a cheater But can our voices really indicate whether we are likely to cheat? A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704917711513">recent study</a> from researchers in the US suggests that they can. Participants were played recordings of people speaking and given no other background information about them, and successfully rated cheaters as “more likely to cheat” than non-cheaters. Interestingly, women were better at this task than men. The recordings were taken from people with voices of similar pitch and attractiveness, who were of similar size and shape, and had similar sexual histories (aside from cheating). This means that none of these factors affected the results. So we currently don’t know what cues the participants used to judge whether the voices came from cheaters. It is not only women who can pick up on men’s vocal cues of good genes and likelihood to cheat, and use it to their benefit. A woman’s voice changes during her menstrual cycle when she is not using contraceptive pills. Perhaps unsurprisingly, men find women’s voices most attractive when the women are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513808000263?via%3Dihub">near ovulation</a> (most fertile), than at other times of the month. This information is important to pick up on, as women do not display very explicit signals that they are fertile (unlike baboon females whose bottoms turn red, or female deer who release scents to advertise their fertility). Voices can also signal whether someone is <a href="http://www.ehbonline.org/article/S1090-5138(14)00078-6/fulltext">interested in you</a>. In one clever study, participants were asked to judge the voices of individuals who spoke in a different language to attractive or unattractive potential partners or competitors. The researchers found that, when talking to attractive people, men’s voices tend to reach a deeper pitch, and both men and women increase how varied their pitch is so their voices sound more dynamic than monotonous. Practically speaking, picking up on these types of cues could allow someone to decide whether a person they are talking to might be attracted to them or not. In these ways, the non-verbal characteristics of voices can play a significant role in signalling health, fertility, attraction and potential infidelity, to name a few. Picking up on these cues, alongside the many other cues we receive when talking to someone, can help us make more informed and well-rounded choices about who to spend time with and who to avoid. But the next time you find yourself listening to and judging someone’s voice for these subtle cues, remember that they are judging yours, too.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92387/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> Written by Viktoria Mileva, Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, University of Stirling and Juan David Leongómez, Assistant Professor of Evolutionary Psychology, El Bosque University. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-know-if-your-partners-cheating-on-you-just-listen-to-their-voice-92387">The Conversation</a>.

Relationships

Early demos of 6 classic songs you HAVE to listen to

When we listen to our favourite songs, it’s easy to forget just how much work went into them. What sounds so effortless to us may have taken months and hundreds of takes to get right, and usually, the polished final result is definitely worth it. But we’ve tracked down some early demos of six of our favourite songs, and we have to say, some of them could’ve been released straight away and we would have loved them just the same. 1. “Beat It” by Michael Jackson <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eZeYw1bm53Y" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Before it was the rock anthem we all know and love, MJ recorded an acapella version of “Beat It”, and listening to it will give you chills. What a voice! 2. “Down Under” by Men at Work <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D2lhmqKLais" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Think of “Down Under”, slow it down, add even more of a reggae vibe, and you’ve got this ultra-relaxed, Dire Straits-esque demo. 3. “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JZr1ocGt60Q" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> This is David Bowie at his best – just an acoustic guitar and those incredible pipes. 4. “Money” by Pink Floyd <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BN2h_mxojVk" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> It’s one of the most iconic song intros ever, but before it became such a classic, it was an amateur recording by Roger Waters in his garden shed. 5. “My Generation” by The Who <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KO0MdQDK_-I" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Listening to this crude first recording, it’s easy to see why The Who had such a profound impact on rock ‘n’ roll. 6. “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cpICbfRbDGQ" frameborder="0" gesture="media" allow="encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Thought you couldn’t love this classic song any more? Listen to this demo – somehow, it’s even more dreamy and enchanting than the final release. Tell us in the comments below, what did you think of these demos? Which did you think were even better than their final versions?

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Want to know if your partner's cheating on you? Just listen to their voice

Early demos of 6 classic songs you HAVE to listen to